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(Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc reported a higher second-quarter profit on Tuesday, as it benefited from a sharp decline in expenses and more activity in some parts of the fixed-income markets, but most of its businesses came under pressure.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senior executives at Volkswagen AG including its former chief executive covered up evidence that the German automaker had cheated on U.S. diesel emissions tests for years, three U.S. states charged on Tuesday in civil lawsuits against the company.

LONDON (Reuters) - A Dallas hedge fund was among investors betting on a fall in the price of ARM Holdings when SoftBank Group's surprise $32 billion bid sent shares in the British chip designer surging nearly 50 percent.

(Reuters) - U.S. seed company Monsanto Co turned down a sweetened $64 billion acquisition offer from Bayer AG , but said it was open to further talks with the German healthcare and chemicals group as well as other parties.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. housing starts rose more than expected in June as construction activity increased broadly, but downward revisions to the prior months' data pointed to a sector treading water in the second quarter.

When we reported yesterday that "After Eight Years Of "Hope And Change", Voters Are Angry" we pointed out one of the counterpoints presented by AP, according to which it is confusing why the US population would be angry when "the economy is growing, jobs are being created and unemployment is low." We countered by observing that unemployment is low only because 94 million Americans are out of the labor force for reasons of their own choosing, while the jobs being created are mostly all in the minimum wage space, with an emphasis on waiters and bartenders.

Which leaves the economy, which to be sure, if only relies only on (double) seasosnally-adjusted government data and conflicted (seasonally-adjusted) manufacturing service sentiment surveys, is certainly in an upswing.

Yet one place which fails to corroborate the recovering economy are the monthly Gallup surveys, and especially the most recent one released earlier today, according to which Americans' confidence in the economy remains weak, with Gallup's U.S. Economic Confidence Index at -17 last week, consistent with levels seen since mid-June. This is in contrast to the stronger confidence levels seen for most of the first half of the year, when the index averaged -12. At -17, this reading is tied for the worst economic confidence reading recorded in the last few years, and suggests that Americans' take on the economy is getting worse, not better.

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